Saturday, 7 March 2015

3D Designer Cicero Moraes (Arc-Team/Ebrafol), and Forensic Dentist Paulo Miamoto (Ebrafol)
are working on the final stages of their e-book, "Manual of Digital 3D
Facial Reconstruction - Applications with free software and open
source". Although working for some years researching open software
applied to forensic and archaelogical contexts, the duo reached
international notoriety last year, when they took part in the facial
approximation of Saint Anthony. The facial reconstruction of Mary
Magdalene is their latest project that has drawn the media's attention.

Nowadays, Moraes and Miamoto
are the coordinators of a non-profit NGO, the Brazilian Team of
Forensic Anthropology and Dentistry (Ebrafol, for its acronym in
Portuguese - www.ebrafol.org).
The main objective of Ebrafol is the promotion of Human Rights by the
application of the aforementioned sciences. They highlight that the
tools used in historical projects like Mary Magdalene's are the same
that can be applied to help human identification, and possibly
contribute to solve cases of disappeared individuals.

Moraes and Miamoto
now expect to share their methodology of work using free software in
their e-book. "Unlike what most people may think at first sight, we
actually want as many people as possible to learn all about our
techniques and apply them to their needs, which might actually help
people around them. And that's why the e-book will be free", explains
Cicero. In this work, the reader will be taught from square one all
about facial reconstruction, since digitalizing a skull with
photogrammetry, up to rendering the modeled face. It is intended for
absolute beginners, as Dr. Miamoto
explains "I didn't have a solid background on 3D Modeling during my
regular studies, it was a slow but constant learning process. Therefore
it is important for us that this book is easily comprehensible by
professionals of backgrounds other than computer sciences, like
dentists, anthropologists, pathologists, archaeologists and anyone with a
will to learn." Open software like Python Photogrammetry Toolbox with
Graphic User Interface (PPT-GUI), MeshLab, MakeHuman and Blender are
some of the applications that are explained in tutorials throughout the
chapters.

To receive your copy of the book, please go to www.ciceromoraes.com.br,
fill out the form and a copy will be sent soon, as the book is on its
final reviewing phase. Although it is still in Portuguese, the authors
expect to release translated versions to Spanish and English hereafter.